What Ever Happened to the Princess of the Amazons?
by Two-Eyed Charlie
Summary: "Despair Event Horizon": The line, event or sight that, when crossed, destroys any and all remaining semblance of hope. When that involves the Spirit of Truth, it can only result in disaster. Inspired by "What Ever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow" and "What Ever Happened to the Caped Crusader".


**Time for another one-shot perhaps? Indeed it is, indeed it is.**

 **This, as the title may imply, is inspired by Alan Moore's "What Ever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow", which was the "last" story for Superman, and Neil Gaiman's "What Ever Happened to the Caped Crusader", which was Batman's "last" story. So...I thought "why don't I do something similar for the remaining third of the trinity?"**

 **Well the right answer would be because I'm no where near as talented as even a single hair on those other two writers chinny chin chin, but it happened anyways...oops.**

 **Whether or not this the "last" story for Wonder Woman is up to you, and (un)like those other two stories, while it can kind of fit into any continuity, I wrote it with the Post-Crisis Wonder Woman in mind. It takes place after the Agent Diana Prince days but before that thing we don't talk about that may or may not have involved attacking Amazons.**

 **This probably could have been placed in the "Wonder Woman" comic section...but I'll put it here. Why? Because I crave exposure and 5000 stories vs 82 isn't much of a comparison. Also one of the stories in that section had the description "contains spanking", which hey, if you're into that thing, fine but...well...**

 **#notmydiana**

 **Anywho: DC owns things as usual. I do not.**

* * *

 _ **What Ever Happened to the Princess of the Amazons?**_

A harsh wind whipped at her exposed arms and legs. It rolled over the crimson horizon with an unforgiving sting, watering her eyes and sending her tattered robes billowing out to her sides. Jagged rocks stretched beyond the limits of her vision, jutting into the sky like snarling teeth. They clipped and cut at her bare feet even as she remained motionless, an unmoving statue silhouetted against a sky that glowed a sinister red, despite no sun being present.

Despite the hostility that screamed out from her surroundings, she paid it no heed. Instead her steely eyes were focused in front of her, at an image that twisted at her very insides far more than a howling breeze or a jabbing ground. The blood red heavens meant little to her right now.

She was staring at a body. And she knew it was hers.

The red chest plate adorned with a proud golden eagle, the stars adorning the deep blue of the torn pants. A tiara, crushed inward and sprinkled with drops of blood, attached to a swollen and utterly lifeless face.

She knew she was looking at her corpse. That she had fallen in battle. But she couldn't remember how. Or when. Or even why. Any details of what transpired had long since crept free of her mind, leaving her a confused, wandering shell, cursed to stare unendingly at an empty sky and an even emptier body.

And yet she bombarded herself with questions.

 _Where am I? How can I see myself if I'm clearly dead? Is that really me? Am_ I _really me? Why is this place deserted?_

 _What in Hera's name happened?_

Most striking to her, however, was what she _didn't_ see. If she had truly fallen to an enemy's sword, she should have been surrounded by the Pantheon she swore allegiance too. _A_ god, _any_ god, should have greeted her spirit before sending her on the wayward path to the after world. Athena to provide answers, maybe? Or Hades in a foolish offer of _quid pro quo_?

It would even have been expected to see Ares in front of her, taunting her, claiming final victory over her obstinate mission of Peace.

And yet, not a single divine soul stood before her. Not even a member of the enigma's that were the Endless. It was merely her, the dunes, and the wind.

And her slain body. She repeated herself.

 _What in Hera's name happened?_

Her deluge of thoughts were abruptly stopped as she felt a presence behind her. She didn't flinch or ready a battle stance, nor did she welcome it with open arms. There was no malevolence, but nor was their kindness or comfort. Whatever was behind her, it exuded something far beyond even those concepts.

And it wanted her to know it was there, a declaration of its presence that tugged at her very essence. Wearily, she turned to face it, the still cruel winds blowing streaks of hair over her eyes.

She was greeted by the billowing blackness of a whirling overcoat reaching towards her, or rather the space right in front of her. They were of impossible length, shifting and writhing around a shaded central mass. Through strained eyes, she could see that it was humanoid, but that was all that she could see. No eyes, no hair, no distinguishing features of any kind.

It unnerved her, but she refused to be intimidated.

"Who are you?" she asked the shadowy figure.

It did not answer.

Stepping forward slightly, she redirected her question towards it again, this time in a more forceful manner. " _Who_ are you? I do not wish to fight, but I would prefer to know your intentions."

Again, it did not answer. It only stared back at her with soulless eyes as the dancing tendrils of its overcoat settled around it. Still undaunted, she hardened her face.

"Is this your doing?" she gestured with her hands towards her mangled body and the ominous vista around her.

No answer was received, only a looming, almost heavy silence. Though she wasn't sure how, it seemed as though the entity's stare only hardened. But again, she was unfazed.

Stepping forward again, her face lost its stone edge, and she moved to ask one final question.

"Do you know how I died?"

" _No."_ it replied, though she saw no mouth move. The very universe seemed to bend and weave as it spoke, its voice a mix of a beautiful song and grating white noise. She couldn't help but stumble slightly; the being before her radiated power, and in her bewildered state, it easily clawed at her very core.

But again, she refused to be intimidated.

"If it's all the same to you then, I plan to find out." Lifting her arms, she prepared to shoot into the sky.

But nothing happened. She remained rooted to the ground. And the entity still stared.

Confusion again overcame any other feeling she had. She couldn't remember much at the moment, like how or why she was here, but from the fleeting edges of her mind she recalled being stripped of her powers before, of walking the mortal planes instead of flying through them.

So too, she remembered, that this wouldn't stop her. Not when she had questions. Not when she needed answers.

She hesitated for the briefest of seconds, only to see if the entity would make any moves against her. It remained rigid, still surrounded by its flowing overcoat of shadows.

Not even the winds pushed against it.

Feeling that it was all the answer she would receive, she turned on her heel, glancing back down at her still, lifeless body. A rush of emotions, dormant during her initial stupor, flooded into her, forcing her to flash between brief bouts of sadness and fear and everything in between. More than anything else though, she felt unsated curiosity. Her desire to know the how's and the where's tore her eyes away from the bloodied and bruised skin, and pushed her forward into the unknown. She felt a sharp pain as the rocks were crush underneath the soles of her feet, leaving only the crunching sound to keep her company as she trekked into the unknown.

As she continued onward towards the scorched and still sunless horizon, the entity vanished in a wisp of darkness. It created a slight flutter, like that of a large bird taking off into the sky, directing her gaze backwards towards where it had been standing.

She was isolated again, well and truly alone. And yet a burning drive within her continued to push her forward, past the hostile wastes and the growing haze within her mind. Questions continued to swim in the depths of her thoughts, each potential answer only drumming up a million more of them.

Without warning, her world became a mist of red. The breeze turned into a malicious torrent, blowing sand around her like a funnel. The fine grains cut into her skin as she attempted to shield her eyes from the assault.

But still she marched forward.

She pushed through the storm of red, hands outstretched in an attempt to find some sort of bearing. The screeching winds echoed in her ears, further disorienting her, causing her to stumble about on increasingly shaky legs.

Then, suddenly, the rocky ground gave way to cracked, warm pavement, and peering over her outstretched arms, she could see the sand begin to settle and part. Through battered and tired eyes, she could see shattered and broken skyscrapers reaching upwards, each one a concrete skeleton lining the streets, casting shadows on every hole and scorch mark. They had to have been massive, a mighty forest of steel and glass cutting through the clouds as they passed by. Now, they were little more than crumbling silhouettes in a harsh sky, the last embers of their fiery demise dying out long ago.

She was in a city now, a destroyed one, though how she managed to wander into it she didn't know. Nor could she begin to guess what had happened to leave it little more than a dead monument to past horrors. She moved forward, far more timidly now than before, her eyes wandering over every burning husk and every fallen tower. She saw no bodies, but the evidence of carnage was undeniable.

The cracked streets led to an empty ravine. It looked like a water front to her, or at least what was left of it. Any water that had flowed through the area had long since dried up. Perhaps it was the catalyst to the disaster. Perhaps said disaster merely irradiated it. She wasn't sure, but either way it was crushingly symbolic of the utter devastation wrought on this place.

A presence pricked the back of her neck, causing her to turn around sharply. She was met by wisps of blackness again, and the stare of the stoic figure she had seen before. It was following her. Was this its realm? Or its destroyer? Surely if it was hostile, it would have already attacked her by now. Of course, if she was already dead, that might be impossible.

"What is this place?" she asked it in the hope that it could shed some light on the limbo she seemed cursed to walk.

" _Home."_

She flashed the mysterious entity a surprised look. "Home?"

" _In part."_

Her glare hardened. "I would appreciate if you were less _vague_ and answered my questions."

The entity merely pointed behind her, towards the street stretching further along the waterfront. _"In time."_

Seek. It was demanding her to walk, to find out for herself. She wanted to object, further insist that it reveal any secrets to her _now_. Before she could however, its long overcoat swirled around it, and in a flash of blackness it disappeared, again leaving her alone amongst the ruins.

Seeing no other alternative, she walked. Save for the slight slapping of her bare feet against the pavement, there was no sound. No birds, no creaking of decrepit buildings. Even the wind had disappeared. It was just her, the gaping maw of the destroyed road before her, and the insatiable desire to know how, why and where she was.

But as she pressed on, she could feel her legs grow heavier. With every passing building her breath became increasingly laboured. The crimson sky grew dimmer as he vision began to spin around her. All the while, she noticed the wind begin to pick up again, blowing foul smelling soot into her face. In the periphery of her vision, she noticed large swaths of the skyline were completely leveled, replaced by gargantuan craters.

That was when she felt something warm and sticky slide down her face. She held a finger up to her nose and, pulling it away, saw the blood. Her balanced became unsteady as it continued to pour out, dripping onto her tattered and blackened robes. She moved to grip a light post to steady herself.

It disintegrated in her hands, breaking down into fine ash and coursing through her fingers. She stumbled, then fully collapsed, her knees landed hard onto the pavement. The blood continued to flow.

The winds grew in power, howling around her, as she heaved, a sickly wave of nausea coursing through her. She wanted to scream, her skin felt like it was on fire, a sensation that only increased when she touched the ground. It felt as though every one of her senses were being assaulted by a malevolent sickness.

Then, the roar of the wind was replaced by a thunderous rumble, causing the ground around her to shake and quiver. Through her blurred eyes she could see the building just a block to her right collapse, showering her in thick dust and debris. She clung to the ground, ignoring the searing pain, and covered her head with her arms, feeling the sharp edges of debris fly over her.

The rumbling stopped, the ground returned to its normal static nature. So too did the spinning in her head and the burning on her skin. Blood no longer poured from her nose, and finally she could see straight again. See what lay behind the now destroyed tower.

But she deeply wished she couldn't.

 _Home_.

She was in New York, staring at the United Nations building. It jutted out of its dismembered surroundings like a tombstone, each shattered pane of glass and cracked granite support writing out its bloody epitaph. The flags adorning its sides were singed, licked by the flames of an unseen fire. Most curiously, she noticed how few of them still stood. It was normally a parade of colours and nationalities, over one hundred and ninety three to be exact. And yet there were great gaps in between the still standing poles where many nations had once flown their colours. Russia, Saudi Arabia, Brazil…

It was as if some countries had been removed.

She stood on uncertain legs, an overwhelming feeling of sadness settling in her gut. She had no idea what to do, where to go, how to even process what her eyes were seeing if her eyes could even be believed. Questions gnawed at her, and yet all she could do was gape at the ruins of the seat of world power, and shiver.

The wind was far from cold, but every corner of her body felt chilled.

It was then that she heard a small cry, one so faint that she very well could have missed it over the breeze that snaked through the still standing structures. It came from the nearby corner, inching her closer to the ruins of the UN building. Timidly, she began to walk forward.

In only a few steps, she saw the origin of the noise. A small, dark skinned girl was crumpled next to a wall, shivering and whimpering as she clutched her knees to her chest. She sprinted towards her, grimacing as sharp rocks dug into her skin.

She immediately wrapped her arms around the girl in an attempt to calm her, rocking her gently back and forth as she whispered to her.

"It's alright sweetie, it's alright, I've got you…" With a yelp, the frightened girl gripped onto her wrist, squeezing as hard as her tiny hands possibly could. She pulled back slightly to get a better look at the little girl, see if there were any injuries.

"Great Hera…" she swore to herself. Half the girl's face was charred with streaks of dry blood forming red rivers on his blistered skin. Her clothes were fused to parts of her body in a sickly, black ridge that ran down the length of her body. She only had one arm…

Her shadow was permanently fused to the wall behind her.

She held the girl closer as the crying became more hoarse, whishing desperately to transfer all the pain the girl was feeling into her. She prayed and cried silently for the girl's wellbeing, stating over and over again that she'd do anything, sacrifice anything, to grant this little one life again. But the crying grew weaker, the thumping of her burnt chest against her robes becoming less and less pronounced. The girl's death grip on her wrist weakened. Then, with a painful sob, went limp completely. The breathing stopped, her chest no longer moved. The little, burnt body sank lifelessly in her arms.

Tears flowed from her eyes as she squeezed the body harder, cursing everything and mourning the child, the destruction that claimed her, with every sob. She couldn't take her eyes off the girl.

So vulnerable, so weak, so alone. This little one didn't deserve this.

A faint noise beat against the inside of her head, like something trying to break free. She could only squeeze the girl harder as it thumped away, more tears welling up in her eyes.

Then, it stopped.

She felt the now familiar icy fingers crawl up her back. The tears stopped quickly as she placed the body gently on the ground. Anger welled up in her as she turned to face the entity, whose red eyes burrowed unforgivingly into hers.

" _Answers."_ It plainly stated.

"What happened?" she snarled. "What caused all of this?"

She expected another cryptic reply, a short, one word answer that would only grate at her nerves and further leave her in the dark. She didn't expect the answer she received.

" _Mortal hubris. They shun peace for petty revenge and even pettier power."_

Her brow arched. "What do you mean?"

" _Every lesson you attempted to give them, they rejected. Every time you stood atop that podium and preached, they ignored you."_

"That can't possibly be true!" she remained defiant, jabbing a finger towards the black being.

" _Isn't it? You can't possibly believe that they would have listened to the likes of you. An immortal warrior claiming to fight for peace, order and justice in a system so fatally designed that the very idea of corruption and conflict and_ _ **death festers**_ _in it. There was no way you could have changed them. They wouldn't have allowed it."_

"And what of the AIDS initiative?" she demanded. "What of the peacekeeping missions that saved villages by the thousands? What of the peace in Corto Maltese?"

" _Temporary victories."_ It replied. There wasn't a hint of emotion in any of its words. It gestured back to the ruins of the UN. _"The moment you walked through those doors you were confronted by the sewage that runs under mankind. You spoke and argued and fought with the proprietors of humanities downfall."_

"I refuse to believe that!"

" _Because you are a fool. No amount of kindred words from an Amazon ambassador can change the chaos that is human interactions. You failed. Despite your best efforts, there was only one possible outcome. It was_ _ **inevitable**_ **."**

"What was inevitable!? _Tell me!?_ "

Without warning, the world behind the entity exploded in a violent flash of light. A monstrous mushroom cloud clawed towards the heavens like the hands of death itself. The radioactive shockwave barreled towards her, obliterating everything in its path and reducing the skyline to smouldering dust. She brought her arms up to her face as it approached, and screamed as she felt her skin seer away in the intense heat…

The light disappeared, the burning stopped, and she no longer felt the rough and cracked pavement beneath her feet. She opened her eyes, again confused. And again, her brow arched.

She was in the Watchtower now, the Justice League of America's first, and last, line of defense for humanity.

She had witnessed the complete annihilation of New York, and yet here she stood on the surface of the moon as though nothing had happened. She was still dressed in tattered robes; her skin still itched with scars from biting sand. As far as she could tell, she was still powerless. But nothing else seemed to be different.

She bounded around the corner, and saw just how wrong she was.

An eerie red emergency light bathed the hall in an unearthly glow, while sparking cables jutted out of the ceiling. Panels had been ripped off the walls and scorch marks riddled everything in sight. The viewing windows were closed, sealed off by heavy metal covers.

The Watchtower was in lockdown, and clearly had been ravaged by _something_. She had to get to the monitor room, find the others. Maybe find answers.

She sprinted further into the complex, leaping over debris and ducking under loose wires. She could see no bodies, friend or foe, only telltale signs of battle. Heavy dents where he fists of someone with great strength would likely have landed. Tiny craters adorned the floors and wall where small explosives would have been thrown and detonated. Long lines of crisp metal stretched into each and every corridor, as if someone armed with a powerful laser had cut a swath through hoards of opponents.

She only hoped they were caused by her friends, and not whatever had been brave enough to fight them in their own home.

 _Home._

Her entire body still ached, but sheer determination drove through any physical pain she was feeling.

But the emotional pain still gnawed at her psyche with piercing fangs. The image of the poor little girl flashed through her mind again, as did the visage of the nearly demolished General Assembly. She slowed her pace, her mind again swimming.

If this was her world, if this was what was happening during or after her death, then she more than likely would be faced with more horrors the closer she approached the monitor womb.

She still marched on, but with a sense of dread that only grew larger the closer she came to her destination. The red lights of the monitor room were flickering, blinking in and out of existence. Casting shadows that stretched out to her with bony, gaunt fingers. She stepped into the main area, now bathed in the flashing red of the room…and gasped at what she saw.

Her friends lay strewn about the floor, beaten, bloodied and bruised.

 _Dead_.

Plastic Man lay in two pieces, separated by a massive tear down the middle of his abdomen. J'onn was little more than a puddle of flaming, Martian biomatter, still cackling with heat. Kyle and Wally were huddled in a corner, both with terror frozen on their faces and blood dripping from seemingly every part of her body. Tears again began to well up in her eyes.

And then she saw them. Her two best friends. Bruce and Clark sat together, leaning against a heavily dented wall, eyes blank, faces steely despite the gashes.

"No…" she cried, "No, no, no, NO!"

She stepped closer to them, and enveloped their bodies in a sobbing hug. She shook with both rage and sorrow in equal measure, sliding the cowl back off Bruce's bloodied face and unfurling Clark's cape from his dislocated shoulder. Every moment she had spent fighting and living with them rushing through her mind. The countless battles, the enemies they had defeated together. Each happy moment, sad moment, everything in between, the flood gates opened and her mind was awash with every emotion she had felt with them. Her fist slammed into the wall behind their bodies, causing her to grimace through her tears as bones cracked under the pressure of the strike.

She should have expected this after seeing what had happened in New York. But she refused to believe it, even though she was seeing it with her own eyes she refused to believe that her friends were dead.

It couldn't be true. Not them.

The pounding returned, its pattern unchanged from when she last heard it. Crashing away deep within her mind as she held her friends in her arms. This time, she thought she heard the faintest whisper along with it, matching every beat as it thumped away at her brain. The cry of something trying to worm its way passed to pain and the torrent of emotion spiralling throughout her mind.

But all too suddenly, it stopped. And again, she found herself spinning around to face the ghastly visage of then entity that seemed to stalk her.

She snarled at it immediately, tears still flowing from her weary and beaten eyes.

" _You_ did this!" she accused through gritted teeth.

" _No. They did this to themselves."_

Her anger further welled up as she crossed the floor. "Don't you _dare_ dishonor them like that! They…"

" _They fell to a superior enemy. As was bound to happen. It was inevitable."_

She stopped in her tracks, her stare again becoming confused mixed with palpable offense. "They were the bravest, most skilled warriors I ever knew. How could it be _inevitable_?"

" _It is the nature of the universe. Out there in the inky depths of space, there is always something more powerful waiting to_ _ **kill**_ **,** _to_ _ **destroy**_ _."_

"We _always_ rise to the challenge, no matter what the odds. Together, the JLA couldn't possibly have been defeated, I can't…I _won't_ believe it."

" _How many times have you stared the abyss in the eye only to be pulled from the waters of_ _ **death**_ _at the last minute? What if the Black Mercy was not so easily removed? What if the doors of the after life were never ajar, and Superman couldn't waltz back into the land of the living after? What if Darkseid fully intended to_ _ **kill**_ _Batman?"_

"We still pulled through! No matter what the JLA never balks from a challenge, and we…"

" _Do not always win. How long was Barry Allen dead again?"_

She could feel her conviction slipping away with every passing second, a feeling of despair threatening to smother her. The entity moved closer to her, power crackling around it's form.

" _What happens when that thing waiting in the corners of the unknown gets tangled up in your numerous near misses? What happens when_ _ **power incarnate**_ _finally decides to come knocking on the Earth's door, and you heroes_ _ **feebly sacrifice yourself in a vain attempt to buy the human race what amounts to a few more cosmic seconds? Even your pitiful Amazon training can't help you then. No warrior is without limits, but only fools refuse to see them."**_

It's flowing coat parted as the beings shadowy face stopped right in front of her, the piercing red eyes staring right into her soul.

" _ **Your friends died the moment they decided they could be something greater than plankton. And you. Are. Powwweerrlesssss…"**_

The wall of the Watchtower exploded in a violent flash of orange, sending her flailing backwards from the force of the blast. Immediately, the vacuum began to claim its victims as the room bent and crumpled, bits and pieces falling towards the depths of a starless cosmos. It's overwhelming power lifted her off her feet, and sent her screaming towards the gaping hole, out into the icy reaches of a space where her blood would freeze, her lungs would explode…

She hit a wall of blackness…

And yet, she felt nothing.

Her eyes were closed, she realized, and she could hear something faint in the background. No crushing silence of the depths of space…

But the crashing of waves against a shore.

She opened her eyes…and was met by the marble columns and statues of Themyscira, the stars twinkling and glistening in the clear, moonlit sky.

 _Home._

But no sooner had she laid eyes on the beautiful architecture of the blessed islands when despair rolled over her, squeezing all other thoughts and feelings from her body. She closed her eyes again, this time as pure emotional pain swept through her body.

And the entity spoke to her.

" _ **Yoooouu are finally unnnnderstannnnding, aren't you? Yoooouuu are finnnnnaalllly waking up to the hhheeeellllpllllesssnesss that issss exissstance."**_

Putrid smoke filled her nostrils as the sting of heat washed over her. Her eyes shot open…to reveal the entire floating islands to be ablaze. Everything was cinders, tinged with flashing embers of a sweeping fire. A society and culture dedicated to the sharing of knowledge was quickly disappearing into columns of smoke, vanishing before her very eyes.

If her mother had been alive, she would have been horrified. The very thought gnawed at her insides just as much as the senseless destruction she was witnessing around her. A terrible thought occurred to her, pushing her despair even more into the forefront of her mind.

The entity seemed fully aware of what it was.

Wisps of blackness cut through the flames, clearing a path in front of her. Its voice echoed out on either side of her.

" _ **Gooooo, go and sssseeeaakkk what you alllllreaaadddyyy know to be ttttrrruuueeee."**_

She did, she walked into the archway of fire, each step taking her deeper into the nightmare she was forced to walk. A clearing, scorched black by flames, appeared before her…and upon entering it her heart sank even further than she thought imaginable.

Cassandra. Donna. Phillippus. Artemes. Mala. All dead, laying in a heap at the centre of a ringed arena.

The arena of the contest, to be ambassador to man's world. Her family and friends, strewn across the place where in the fires of competition she was born.

She couldn't cry, not anymore. Nor could she muster up the will for anger. The tears still came, she still mourned in silence for those she loved, but it was blackened, polluted by the overwhelming despair that had claimed her.

The beating in her head started again, and this time it did not stop when the entity reappeared.

" _ **Nnnnoooo matttter what, ttthhheeerrreee are allllwwwaaayysss those who wwaaannt to see the Amazons bbbbuuurrrrnnnn. Your gggooooddsss are dysfunctional, yyyyyoooouuuurr championssss are dddisssstrrraccted by the same mortal hubris tttttthhhaaaattt will end ttthhheeeeiiirrr world. It tttttaaaakkkkkeeesss little to set a myth aaaabbbbllllaaazzzeee."**_

A squadron of jets streaked overhead, their engines roaring above the crackling flames that surrounded her. They banked sharply, unloading another payload into the side of a mausoleum. Even from here, she could see the decals on their tales.

British. Canadian. French. American.

" _ **For allllll the good you tttrrryyyy to dooooo, this isssss how mortal men rrrrreeepppaaaayyyyy you. It is iiinnneeeviiitttable, when all mmmmaaannnkiiiinnnddd can do is seeeeee threat after threat after ttthhhrreeeeaaattt."**_

Her eyes fell to the ground as another explosion engulfed the ruins of the city. The thumping in her head, however, increased in volume.

And this time, it was accompanied by something else.

 **Truth. Not truth. Seek Truth. Truth.**

The words seemed to emanate from nowhere, but they followed in perfect rhythm with the beating that she could hear. They repeated themselves again as her fists clenched and her postured straightened.

 **Not Truth. Not Truth. Seek it. Seek.**

She turned to the entity, her eyes meeting its glare. It glowered and snarled through its shrouds, its inky tendrils shifting around the both of them.

" _ **What are you ddddooooiiinnnggg?"**_

She didn't reply, only continued to stare at it. Indecision held her in its iron grip, paralyzing her. The entity's eyes burrowed deeper into hers.

And it let out a piercing laugh.

She pushed through it, meeting no resistance as it evaporated into retreating shadows. The haunting laugh continued to follow her as she pushed through falling planks and leaping flames, never turning to look back at the bodies of her family and fellow sisters. A tumbling piece of granite nearly crushed her as her frantic pace quickened, the laughter continuing to follow her. She vaulted over a burning bush, landing on a deserted stretch of road that led to a lone house. She could feel the entity's presence behind her, so she sprinted forward, shielding her face from the flames that danced on either side.

It was gaining on her, she could tell. She could feel it's cold touch on her neck, _in_ her mind. So she quickened her pace, ignoring the growing pain that wracked her entire body. When she reached the door to the lone house, she pounced, and with a shower of splinters crashed right through…

And landed hard on a red, rocky stretch of ground, where a crimson sky burned with no sun and a fierce wind whipped at her exposed arms and legs.

She was back where she started, at the site of her body. Only know even that was gone.

She let out a blood curdling cry, ripping at her hair as she sank to her knees.

"WHAT ARE YOU!?" she screamed with shaking arms, demanding at the heavens and every shadow that surrounded her. "WHAT IN TARTARUS'S NAME ARE YOU?!"

 _ **We are entropy.**_

 _ **We are that which precedes life.**_

 _ **We hold the universe in our grasp.**_

 _ **And we permeate eeeevvveeerryyyttthhhinnng.**_

Its answers swarmed her, the very fabric of reality warping in every direction as its words materialized out of nothingness. She bolted to her feet, spinning wildly as the voices continued.

 _ **We are the natural order of things.**_

 _ **We are that which you fight most against.**_

 _ **And yet you lose.**_

 _ **Anyone who stands against us is destined to fail.**_

 _ **Despair.**_

 _ **Destruction.**_

 _ **Death.**_

 _ **The Primeval Void.**_

 _ **That which precedes the sky and will claim it as our own.**_

 _ **We are the beginning.**_

 _ **We are the end.**_

 _ **We are that which you fight most against.**_

 _ **We.**_

 _ **Are.**_

 _ **CHAOS.**_

The ground beside her burst open as her corpse leapt outwards. Its skin was gangly and blackened, the red and gold breastplate torn and hanging off charred bone. It screeched at her as it vaulted towards her, grabbing onto her ankles with cold, dead hands. With a scream, she was pulled forward, slamming hard into rocky ground. She struggled in her body's grasp as it yanked on her legs, pulling her closer and closer to the hole from which it sprung.

The shadows crept closer and closer towards her as she clawed at the ground, tearing into her fingernails and skin. The shadows repeated themselves over and over again in growling, disembodied voices.

 _ **Despair. Entropy. Chaos. Chaos. CHAOS.**_

With one finally tug on her ankles, she was pulled into the murky depths, darkness closing in around her and snuffing out all light. All hope. She was enveloped in it…and she was losing herself to the nothingness.

The void was claiming her.

And then, the thumping started again.

It was the same beat as before, an ever familiar, and comfortable, noise that pulled her out of the tendrils of shadows. The soft yet forceful voice started again, filling her mind with a gentle warmth.

 **Truth. Seek the Truth. Not the Truth. Seek it. Seek it.**

The truth…seek what truth? Was this…was this not real?

Wait…the entity, this Chaos, why did it keep saying that she was _going_ to lose. Not that she had already lost. They keep phrasing it as though this was _going_ to happen, not that it had already come to pass.

The Amazons…the Amazons were no longer on earth! They had fled after the OMAC crisis. That couldn't have been real, what she was seeing! It couldn't have been! And neither could the death of the League! O'Brian was with his child, Kyle had taken a sabbatical, J'onn no longer had a weakness to fire…it couldn't have been them!

Did that mean that New York was still standing too? Did that mean _she_ was still standing?

Is that…is that why she couldn't remember anything?

The slight beat started again, and this time she recognized it immediately.

It was a heartbeat. _Her_ heartbeat.

She remembered now, she remembered what had happened. Ares, he had made a deal with Hades to use his army to assault the world of man, to fill his underworld with bodies and sate his never ending quest for power and blood loss. The Amazon's were gone, his only opposition having abandoned the mortal plain.

But she…she had stood in defiance. She had gathered her allies at the UN, spoken passionately for the need for unity, cooperation, and dedication to the wellbeing of their fellow brothers and sisters. She had called upon the Department of Meta Human Affairs, told them of the great threat that awaited the people they were honor bound to protect. And she turned to the JLA, who immediately stood behind her.

She had united all of them, and they had met Ares and his army of undead Greek warriors head on, forming a line in the sand on the beaches of Greece and vowing to hold back the evils of War, even if it was only for a short time.

No matter the politics, no matter past feelings, her love for humanity had pushed past the veil and brought a powerful army to stand in its defense.

She had taken a blow to her abdomen, a thrown, enchanted spear that pierced her defenses while she was distracted. But she knew that type of wound. It would not kill her, not immediately. And she knew the men and women that surrounded her would not abandon her.

This Chaos had not lied. It did not kill her.

Because she wasn't dead.

The darkness rebelled around her, shifting in angry flutters as she began to glow white. Her luminescence beat back the shadows, sending them realign and snarling around her.

" _ **Noooooo! What are you doooooing! You can't fiiiight against uuussss!"**_ The Entity cried out.

It was scared, she noticed. Scared and hurt, whimpering and licking its wounds. So she pressed the advantage, thrusting her arms out further into the inky shroud. Light coursed from her, splitting into the entity as it shrieked.

"I am Wonder Woman, Princess of the Amazons and the Spirit of Truth!" she cried out. "And you…you have _no_ power over me…"

…

…

…

"I need more gauss!" Batman shouted, his gloved hands desperately fumbling with the wound on Wonder Woman's stomach. Nemesis finished firing off his remaining M4 magazine as he called back to the Dark Knight.

"Gauss? Christ Batman, she needs a goddamn Priest at this point!"

Batman snarled at the Agent's direction as a blood covered gauntlet was thrust in his direction. "Don't you _dare_ give up on her you son-of-a-bitch!"

"Batman please!" cried the medic beside him, the red cross hovering loosely above his uniform's Nigeria patch. "I need to concentrate if we're going to stabilize her long enough for her healing factor to kick in! Shouting…"

"You'll only need a few minutes!" Donna cried out next to them as she based in the head of an undead Spartan with her shield.

"Alright but I…"

"Just _do_ it doctor!" Batman shouted over the hail of gunfire. "If we lose Diana…"

A hand clamped onto Batman's wrist tightly. "Then I would hope you'd still be able to do it without me…"

Diana rose with a grunt as the group looked on with agape faces. She finished with a smirk. "I like to think I'm a good enough teacher that you don't always need me around."

Donna quickly dropped another Spartan as she dove closer to Diana, a look of complete joy shining through the dirt and muck on her face. Nemesis had to do a double take, nearly dropping one of his back up Glock's in the process. Batman's face was a mixture of every possible emotion under the sun, but it quickly disappeared underneath the signature steel of his icy persona. He offered her his blood covered hand.

"Can you stand?"

"I'm good." she replied with a grunt, taking his hand in hers. "I just need something to cover my flank while this wound heals."

"Here sis," Donna tossed her shield towards the elder Amazon with a smirk, "try not to get too much undead brain on it though."

"No promises." She replied lightly. Even Batman smiled slightly at that.

The medic reloaded his assault rifle as the group condensed together, staring out of the trench towards the legions of undead soldiers that were charging them. Popping a fresh clip into his pistol, Nemesis spoke in a neutral tone.

"Once more unto the breach?"

"I hardly think it's only _once_ more…" Diana returned with a smile. She readied her shield as she stared down the hordes of enemies. "There may be more at stake today than even I could have imagined, but it doesn't matter. We stop them right here, right now. Who's with me!"

"Lead the way, Princess." Batman replied, prepping a series of explosive batarangs. With, yet again, a subtle smirk.

The group raised their weapons to the sky as a series of jets shot overhead, adorned in British, Canadian, French and American decals. With a might scream they charged into the swaths of Ares soldiers, along with the rest of the vast army behind them.

With Wonder Woman, Princess of the Amazons and the Spirit of Truth, again leading the way…

* * *

 **Hope you guys liked it! I really wanted to do a solo Wonder Woman story, but I figured that, with what I was trying to do, some cameos were needed. So...yeah, otherwise I hope you a) kinda got the symbolism I was going for and b) didn't stop reading halfway through because you thought this was getting Watchmen dark.**

 **Also, if you want some great music to listen to while reading it, the first part goes well with "Black Star" by Lustmore, as that's the song I was listening to when I wrote it.**

 **The second half goes very well with a warm cup of tea and a puppy to pet.**


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